Beowulf - Monsters in the Theater & On Screen
From my experience last night at the sneak preview of Beowulf I learned that their were monsters in the theater seats as well as on screen. I’m speaking of the “parents” who brought their young children to see the PG-13 movie. Of course, all parents make mistakes, myself included, but to show such poor judgment by bringing their kids just to save a buck or two on a free sneak preview is ridiculous. I firmly believe that all potential parents should have to take a test to see if they should be allowed to be parents. I’m sure most would fail.
While standing in line to watch Beowulf I saw at least 8 children near me who were 10 years-old or less. The people directly in front of me had a double stroller with two children 3 years-old or less and a 7 or 8 year-old daughter. I was beside myself thinking of the poor choice they had made in bringing their children. Forget for a moment that the rating was PG-13, but the previews themselves should have been a clue that this was not a movie meant for young eyes. The violence was off the wall, sexual themes were strewn throughout and I saw more nude male butts than I have seen in a while on screen. I mean come on, Beowulf fights in the nude and the female demon played by Angelina Joile was fully nude without the details (think Barbie doll).
The scenes with the Grendel were particularly intense showing him ripping bodies in half, biting the heads of people and then chewing them slowly on camera. Impalings, beheadings, and dismemberments were abundant. The whole time I’m thinking about the nightmares the dozens of children in the theater will be having tonight. A child next to me asked the meaning of a sexually-laced conversation to his Father. I couldn’t hear the father’s reply, but I’m hoping he felt some guilt in bringing his young son.
I’m sure the fact that this was animated gave some parents the wrong idea that this was made for kids and the fact that the tickets were giveaways probably clouded some judgments, but as parents we have to be stronger and wiser than this. We have to realize that PG-13 doesn’t mean it’s okay for all kids or even kids older than 13. Parental guidance is needed and from what I could see guidance was in short supply for many of those children.
Unfortunaely the children suffer for their parents laziness in not checking the movie out ahead of time. Their are many websites that can help parents know what the movies contain and if they are truly appropriate. Here are a few I have used over the years:
Take some time before you take your kids to the movies and see what they movie will be exposing your children to. Even more important, be aware of the movies they are seeing without you. These review sites can educate you as to what your kids are feeding their minds.
Of course none of this makes any difference unless you have the resolve to say “no” to them when they are pressuring you to see movies because “all their friends” have seen it. Take a stand and realize it is just a movie and one day they will appreciate it.
Finally, this move should have been R and I wonder why the MPAA doesn’t have a rating in between PG-13 and R, because obviously too many parents don’t bother to check the movie’s content and rely on a lax rating system. The gap between the R and PG-13 rating is narrow and I would love to know what pushes a movie to R, because I obviously don’t have a clue after what I saw in Beowulf. Unfortunately, I’m afraid most of the parents that brought their children to this movie don’t have a clue either.
